There is plenty of advice available about which platforms are the best on which to spend a marketing budget: Google pay-per-click, radio, social media, etc. But truth be told, taking a holistic approach to marketing will serve both franchisors and franchisees the best. The key is in getting franchisees to see the big picture.

Most franchises require that franchisees contribute to a national ad fund, where dollars are wisely spent on branding and large national campaigns. Unfortunately, sometimes it stops there. In some cases, franchisees think that the money allocated toward national advertising is enough and that they don’t need to do any additional advertising. In other cases, franchisees are eager to run their own local campaigns, but franchisors are hesitant to release control, stifling local efforts.

The franchisor and franchisee need to see how all marketing – national and local – benefits them both.

1. Strong brands attract more customers, which grows sales.
2. Strong sales strengthen the brand.
3. Strong brands attract potential franchisees.

In the end, all of the efforts, from consumer marketing to franchise development, interact and support each other.

Local Advertising Benefits

Branding is only half the battle. Although a recognizable look and name recognition benefit every location in a franchise network, national branding is best supported by local advertising.

When done well, local advertising:

• Produces higher search engine rankings.
• Yields more leads, foot traffic and local sales.
• Promotes brand consistency.

Franchises find great success in designating preferred marketing vendors who understand the brand and protect it. These vendors also can provide unique local variations within templated campaigns, which means customization and standardization are provided at scale and at a lower cost to franchisees. They help franchisees layer on to the national ad program with location-specific advertising that franchisees can easily track to see the return on investment.

Franchisors also can empower franchisees to complement national campaigns by making available branded creative, custom templates and guidelines for using each channel that franchise locations use. That allows franchisees to handle their own advertising without using images or language that are outside of brand standards.

Finally, local ads bring authenticity to the brand. Local ads can introduce employees that customers know and trust, showcase local customer testimonials and publicize a location’s community involvement. Customers are more likely to engage with images of recognizable faces than with stock photos.

Taking a more global view of the good that comes from national ad campaigns as well as local advertising helps those at all levels of an organization see the benefits of and buy into a complete marketing program. When national and local advertising work hand-in-hand rather than independently, both franchisors and franchisees win.

This blog was written by Curious Jane and previously published on the blog of the International Franchise Association.

Everybody in the marketing world is talking about Donald Miller’s bestseller, “Building a StoryBrand.” But how can you apply the StoryBrand® process to franchises?

First, you need to understand the basic premise: Miller says if your messaging isn’t clear, customers will tune it out rather than try to decipher it. So, he relies on a familiar formula that tells a story starring your customer, with you offering a product or service that will dramatically improve that customer’s life.

Miller breaks down the formula into what he calls the StoryBrand 7 Framework:

1) You have a character/hero (2) who has a problem. (3) And he meets a guide (4) who gives him a plan (5) and calls him to action (6) that helps him avoid failure (7) and ends in success. “Star Wars” is a prime example of the hero’s journey storyline: Luke Skywalker is at war with the Dark Side, and he meets Yoda, who trains him to be a Jedi Knight and sends him to battle Darth Vader. He defeats the Dark Side, and the Universe survives.

Now, it is unlikely your franchise will need to save the universe in order to sell your product. However, franchises can use StoryBrand-inspired ideas to hone their consumer marketing plan. Here’s how:

Tell a Simple Story

The first step is to make sure that your brand is defined and your message is clearly articulated. The consumer should be able to understand how the product or service works and see him- or herself using it. For a personal fitness franchise, that means you must help your client understand how your gym or personal training services can help them become their ideal, healthy, heroic self.

Map Out a Plan

Especially for franchises who work with long-term contracts, you need to help a customer think past their immediate needs and show him what he can achieve if he follows your plan. A landscaping franchise can mow the grass today, of course. But the customer needs to be able to visualize the end of summer, when the shrubs you’re planting have filled in and the flowers you’re planting have bloomed. Then he will sign the contract, secure in knowing he can have the best-looking castle and lawn on the block.

Live Happily Ever After

Finally, you have to help the customer see the level of fulfillment that awaits them on the other side of the product or service delivery. Rather than focusing on food or even the simple act of eating, a restaurant franchise should depict quality time spent with family or the time spent making memories around the dinner table. In other words, make it all about the happy ending.

Bottom line: The StoryBrand formula can help you do what good marketing should always do –clarify your message to help you better connect with your customers/heroes.

This blog was written by Curious Jane and previously published on the blog of the International Franchise Association.

Sometimes you have to pause and go back to the basics to improve user experience on a franchise website. It’s not unusual for websites to get cluttered as the years go by with content and page additions, messaging updates, etc. In addition, your brand and offerings often evolve, as do search engines’ algorithms for serving up your site. You need to make sure that any paid advertising or SEO efforts to drive traffic are successful.

Your potential client or customer will decide in seconds if they are going to stay on your page. Here are a few tips to make sure they do:

Clearly define your brand and message.

Step back for a moment and make sure that it’s obvious to the user right away what it is that you do. They need to know what you are offering and why your franchise is the one to get it from. You can check your page’s bounce rate to see whether people are leaving your page too quickly.

Create a visual hierarchy.

The site should be presented so that visitors don’t have to do any work to figure things out. Use headings and bold-faced text to help users skim information to find what they need.

Improve calls to action.

Make sure calls to action (CTAs) are simple and clear. Examples include “Buy Now,” or “Download Our Free Guide.” Once you determine your CTA, place it within the menu bar, but make sure it stands out, design-wise. Consider reverse or completely different colors from the other menu bar buttons. Place the same button in another position above the fold, and again at the bottom of the page.

Simplify navigation.

Make sure that it’s easy for users to move down through each page and between pages on the site. Don’t try to be too cute or clever with navigation, as you risk losing your consumers to confusion. Label things clearly and have content created strategically and presented logically so that users can move from one point to the next.

Optimize images.

Page that take too long to load frustrate consumers. Use online tools to compress images so that load times are quick. Check out Google Page Speed Insights to see how your current site is fairing; low speed time can affect both users and Google search rankings.

Provide hot links.

Eliminate any additional steps or clicks for the user that you can. Make sure all links to phone numbers, emails, etc. are hot links.

Your goal is to attract and engage customers from the very first second they land on your website. These tips will help you begin to improve the online experience for users, and a better online experience means more conversions.

This blog was written by Curious Jane and previously published on the blog of the International Franchise Association.

We all know that in advertising it’s important to define your target before starting any marketing initiatives. The same holds true with digital campaigns for franchise marketing, particularly in how your target market relates to the content presented and where and how it is delivered. Before you launch a franchise marketing campaign, it’s vital to learn how to create a franchisee persona.

Who are you talking to? What problems do they need to solve in their lives? What parts of the franchising and entrepreneur messages resonate with them? How do they like to be communicated with?

With some focused efforts, you’ll be able to reach prospective franchisees that are more likely to convert. Here are five ways to create effective personas:

Start small.

It’s best to select one or two personas initially. Each persona will get its own strategy, content and campaign. Narrowing to a single persona might create fewer leads, but they will be more qualified leads with higher conversion rates.

Provide as many details as possible.

Include demographic information such as age, profession, etc., but also consider more abstract details such as what they value, what audiences they interact with and what platforms they utilize.

Establish how becoming a franchise owner can be attractive to them.

Determine why this persona would want to be a franchisee. A teacher might want to continue to work with students, but outside of the classroom in a way that’s more lucrative. A nurse might want the opportunity to combine a love of healthcare with an interest in starting their own business.

Determine how YOUR franchise opportunity is perfect for them.

What makes your franchise different from all of the others? Define the ways that becoming a franchisee with your business will help your persona achieve his or her goals in a way that no other brand can.

Determine the pain points.

Brainstorm the possible obstacles your persona faces in becoming a franchisee with your company. Find ways to address the needs of those that are afraid of the implications of a career move or the financial risk of starting a business. Help overcome fears right away so that they can move to the next step in the decision-making process.

All of your franchise marketing efforts are going to be directed to your selected persona. It’s important to clearly define and communicate that persona from the beginning. Focused messaging and targeting will involve everything from the copy content in pitch pieces, to the design of downloadable lead magnets, to the platforms where advertisements are displayed. Your efforts will yield big dividends: Strategically approaching a narrower audience will deliver more qualified leads.

Quick Recap:

What are the 5 steps to create a franchisee persona?

1. Start small and build 2 personas at most initially
2. Get granular and add as much details as possible
3. Map out their wants and needs
4. Establish why your franchise is right for each of them
5. Determine each one of their pain points

This blog was written by Curious Jane and previously published on the blog of the International Franchise Association.

There was a time when franchise development teams purposely held some of their cards close to the vest, withholding specific and valuable information until later in the sales process. With increasing competition, a plethora of resources available across the internet, and consumers (potential franchisees in this case) wanting to make faster decisions based on easy-to-find information, it’s time to reconsider what franchise opportunity information you are sharing when. So let’s dive into what you need to acquire those qualified franchise leads.

Answer The Basic Questions

When it comes to your website, make sure you are answering questions that potential franchisees are looking for. The basics include the core values and mission of your franchise brand (although they don’t need to be specifically spelled out using those headings), the services and offerings your business sells, the vetting process, the onboarding process, next steps, etc. Don’t make users hunt for the information that you know they are going to want; clearly organize and present it.

Provide Transparency Through Numbers

When it comes to finances, the more transparent you are, the better. Franchises that share their Item 19s help potential franchisees move along the decision-making process more efficiently. If you find there’s a particular barrier to entry that sales reps making personal calls can’t easily overcome, go ahead and put it out there sooner. The bottom line is that you are looking for qualified franchise leads, so if someone falls off, that’s OK. You want your franchise development team spending time nurturing qualified leads, not weeding out those who aren’t.

Set Realistic Expectations

And likewise, if you have relevant statistics, such as quartile earning potential, share those, also. If your franchise has a high front-end investment, but many franchisees break even after the first year and then find great financial reward, share that information in a way that will protect you legally but still draw the interested party further down the funnel.

Close Information Gaps and Invite Discussion

Also consider what other information is available online. Just because you choose not to address something on your website, doesn’t mean the discussion isn’t taking place elsewhere. Do a little research to find out the answers to commonly asked questions that come up on different sites. If needed, update and revise your content so that your franchise brand is driving the conversation on your own website for potential franchisees beginning the exploration process.

Use All Your Advantages

Current, successful franchisees are another key part of the franchise development sales process. Bring them in early in the process by including their testimonials on your website to help convert top-of-funnel leads. Then, include them in phone calls and in-person meetings as potential franchisees move closer to signing.

The franchise development process often begins with the website and ends with in-person meetings. Have ongoing communication with your franchise development team to find the types of questions they are running into. The goal is to move helpful and relevant information further up the funnel to ensure that your team is getting the most qualified franchise leads.

This blog was written by Curious Jane and previously published on the blog of the International Franchise Association.

Every business seems to be on a quest to please Google and get better search rankings, and organic search traffic is the holy grail. Although some people waste time trying to hack the Google algorithm (please note: they can’t), there are a number of things you can do to boost your franchise business’s SEO. Here are a few content strategy tips for franchises with the most effective being to publish compelling content.

Writing great content takes time and commitment. If you put valuable information on your website or blog, however, people will find it and share it, and you will see an increase in traffic. If it’s compelling and informative, people will stay on your site and read it. Google rewards you when people spend more time on your site.

For your content to have a positive impact on search rankings, it must be relevant, consistent and timely.

Relevant Content

Content on your franchise website should be consumer friendly. The main headline on a page must clearly signal what kind of information can be found there. Readers are skimmers first, and if your headline doesn’t seem relevant, they will leave.

For a retail apparel franchise, content – text and photos – should be about current, in-season fashion. Write about and illustrate styles that your target demographic will be searching for.

Consider the process: If someone searches for a “dress to wear to a summer wedding,” and Google serves up the store’s blog, the headline should include some of those keywords, and so should the meta description (the line that appears beneath the headline on a results page). Likewise, your friendly dress shopper may search for “Images,” so the photo should be current and the “alt text” should include similar keywords, such as “wedding guest’s dress” instead of simply “dress.”

Consistent Posts and Updates

Be consistent about posting to your blog and updating your page. Google rewards pages with new and updated content and likewise, it may penalize a page that goes months without any activity. Additionally, your hard-won audience will drift away if they visit your page several times and don’t see anything new. Commit to a reasonable posting schedule; you can always increase it later if you find that you have time and good material. If you own a pet care franchise, for instance, you could aim for a monthly post on a topic such as pet nutrition or new flea treatments.

Timely and Current Offerings

Finally, sales and offers on your site must be kept up to date, and images should look current and connected to your brand. You may want to build into your website a structure that calls attention to news or upcoming events. A restaurant franchise, for example, should make it easy for website visitors to find information on summer specials or a “kids eat free” promotion.

Producing valuable content is worth the effort it takes. Great content helps you build an audience organically, and Google always ranks that over paid promotion.

This blog was written by Curious Jane and previously published on the blog of the International Franchise Association.

The world has gone digital. So should you continue to advertise on traditional media, such as radio, TV and billboards? The answer is an unqualified “yes.” The best, most efficient campaigns execute across multiple platforms. This holds true in consumer marketing as well as franchise development. Lets us dive into the role of traditional media. We can start with how your traditional marketing compliments your digital marketing, and how they enhance your marketing strategy altogether.

Using traditional and digital media together reinforces your messaging. Someone might see an ad in their Facebook feed or on a local news website, then hear a related commercial on the radio as they are driving their kids to school. Repetition helps people remember what you are saying.

The Trend

Increasingly, traditional media marketing is becoming more “digital” in the most positive ways.

Digital billboards are becoming almost as common as billboards they print on vinyl. You can update it with new messaging much more quickly.

Newspapers and magazines that have survived the war on print have been forced to adapt by either creating strong websites or becoming digital-only products. This makes them attractive venues for advertising.

Radio stations can provide demographic details so you can find the best fit for the audience you are trying to reach, and some even allow targeting by ZIP code. Music streaming sites such as Pandora and Spotify also serve as radio products. They function like digital platforms, offering very specific targeting options and pricing based on impressions.

The Cost

Network TV is by far the most expensive medium within the role of traditional media, but the price of commercial spots on local channels varies widely by market. Franchises targeting the Tampa market might pay $1,200 to $1,500 per spot, while an Atlanta franchise would expect to pay $10,000 per spot. On cable networks, the charge could drop as low as $50 per spot. And although TV is an effective way to reach the masses, it also works better when complemented by a digital product that is being targeted to your key demo.

Which platforms you choose will depend largely on your budget and market.

The Good News

The good news is that even the smallest companies can afford to advertise on at least two types of media — a digital platform and a traditional one. In a large city, a small franchise would not likely be able to afford TV or traditional radio, but they could reach their target audience via Pandora and a social media platform.

The Plan

Franchises must balance their media plans between digital and traditional media for maximum effectiveness. Working together, digital and traditional platforms can reinforce your messaging and persuade your target audience to act.

The goal of franchise SEO strategies are to increase organic traffic, which is unpaid traffic going to your franchise website. There are many pieces involved in an effective SEO strategy, but all point back to structuring your website, location sites and user experience to provide relevant and organized content that can be recognized by Google and other search engines so that your business will be served up when someone is doing a search for the services or products you provide.

Some SEO work is done on the front-end (meaning you or the user would be able to see it on your website), while other SEO work is done on the back-end by coders and developers. All of front-end and back-end strategies work together to improve SEO.

If you’d like to implement SEO to enhance franchise marketing on your website:

Clarify Your Site Structure

Do a big picture review of your website. Make sure that the structure and organization of your site is clear. This is so that Google (and other search engines) can understand the purpose of each page and index each of them easily. It’s like making an outline for an essay that indicates hierarchy and relationship. Your site should also follow a similar format. Help clarify the structure by implementing changes, such as listing headings in the correct order. If the whole site seems like it’s disorganized or out-of-date, it might be time for a new website.

Create a Clear Path for the User

Look at your site from the user’s perspective. Be sure that layout, navigation, etc. all point toward a clear path to purchase. Tweak language and design as much as you need to. It need to be easy so that users can quickly find the information they need and respond to the desired call to action.

Perform Proper Maintenance

Confirm all plugins, apps, etc. are up to date. Broken links and out of date content create a frustrating user experience. Frustration like this increases bounce rate, and can even cause Google to remove it form their search results. This is called de-indexed.

Get Backlinks

Create quality backlinks to your site. The easiest way to do this is to include your website is in local directory listings. There are many out there like Yelp, Yellow Pages and Foursquare. It is important to consistently list and correct your franchise locations on each. Your NAP (name, address and phone) must be the same across all platforms.

Follow a Strategic Content Calendar

Establish a content calendar that includes a regularly scheduled blog related to your franchise industry or offerings. Google values websites that continually provide updated and relevant information to users.

Audit Your Content

Examine each page of content individually. You need to make sure that content relates to page titles and that page titles related to user searches. You don’t want Google sending someone looking for something else to land on your page. They will quickly arrive and then leave, increasing your bounce rate. Your goal is to provide accurate content and titles to help Google serve your site to those looking for what you offer.

Pace Your Changes

It’s important to be careful with the speed with which you implement changes. If you make too many modifications at one time, you might run into issues with the way Google is indexing your site, causing your organic search results to decline. There is historical value with your current site, and it’s important to leverage that while making improvements. For example, you might begin adding additional pages before changing content on your homepage.

Keep Up with The Changing Landscape

While SEO continues to evolve as search engines get “smarter” over time. Regardless, the overarching approach you should take remains constant. Do all you can to create an engaging and successful user experience on your franchise website and micro-sites.

Millennial spending in the U.S. is on track to skyrocket from $600 billion annually to more than $1.4 trillion per year by 2020. For franchises to thrive, they must learn how to engage through multiple distribution channels for millennials.

High expectations make millennials a challenging yet rewarding group to pursue. According to Gallup, millennials are less likely than previous generations to be engaged – emotionally and psychologically attached – with brands. But when millennials do engage, they are more loyal than other customers and spend more money.

This generation values relationships, transparency and consistency. To meet those expectations, franchise brands must understand their audience and present a unified front on all distribution channels for millennials.

Authentic Engagement

Millennials do not engage with brands the way their parents do; they crave authentic relationships with companies that share their values.

Concepts such as work-life balance and sustainable sourcing pique millennials’ interests more than a clever commercial can. For the generation that grew up dodging pop-ups and spam emails, identifying a sales pitch is as easy as posting to Instagram. The key to reaching this group is to start genuine conversations.

Follow these three strategies to show millennials why your brand deserves their loyalty:

1. Identify Personas

Not every millennial is the same. Like any other group, millennials can include first-time homebuyers, renters, married parents and child-free singles.

Identify specific personas that fit your target demographic and tailor your messaging for each specific audience. Focus on at least five millennial subgroups to strike a balance between quantity and quality of engagement. By breaking down the larger group into smaller sections, you can create stronger messaging and provide millennials the authentic connection they desire.

2. Align Messages and Media

Different types of information require different platforms. Millennials don’t take one platform as gospel, as their grandparents may have done, so they expect to see content presented on multiple channels.

Choose your platform based on the type of message. For customer service messages, 80 percent of millennials prefer text messages to phone calls. Texts can cover a wide range of topics, from appointment and payment reminders to security checks.

Brand personalities are not established via text, though. Millennials look to social media to evaluate brands’ values and trustworthiness. Online reviews, comments and posts all factor into whether millennials see your brand as authentic, so curate your content and stay active on all of your platforms to keep conversations positive.

3. Support a Good Cause

Millennials are drawn to socially conscious companies. They believe strongly in equal rights and sustainable living. As a matter of fact, 77 percent of millennials say companies have a moral obligation to improve the world.

This generation practices what they preach, with 77 percent participating in charity and social work. Partner with a nonprofit that aligns with your core values to demonstrate to millennials that your company cares about its community. On social media, stay positive and inclusive.

Multichannel marketing to millennials is a delicate task, but when done correctly, your efforts will lead to their loyalty and substantial purchasing power. Use these tips to start more authentic conversations and show millennials that your brand is worth their attention.

At this year’s Franchise Consumer Marketing Conference, the conversations among franchisors repeatedly turned to a huge opportunity: How can franchisors cultivate supportive franchisor franchisee relationship?

Building a strong relationship is an important goal. Franchisees with strong franchisor connections do better locally, which helps the brand as a whole. But what are the smartest strategies for growing productive, lasting and trusting partnerships between franchisors and franchisees?

Start with these three steps to build a franchisor franchisee relationship:

1. Foster a common culture
2. Communicate effective and sincerely
3. Lead with focus

Foster a common culture.

Every business has a specific culture that’s based around its overarching principles, ethics and values. Franchisors should ensure that franchisees not only understand that culture, but also buy into it completely. Each franchisee will be responsible, after all, for introducing new employees to that culture, so the franchisee must thoroughly embrace and represent it.

Spreading a brand’s message through training and internal transparency is key. From that point, franchisors can provide franchisees with informative and motivational content, such as videos or franchisee testimonials, to help them share the culture with their employees.

Over time, trust and loyalty will strengthen; franchisees will become more deeply invested in the brand, and franchisees will begin to promote the brand’s narrative. Although customers might not consciously recognize this link, they will experience greater consistency and positivity from it. What better way to ensure repeat business and a constant flow of referrals than consumers who are excited by a good experience

Communicate effectively and sincerely.

Franchisors must view themselves and the franchisees as one team — think “we” instead of “us and them” — and the best way to build that mindset is through open communication. Regardless of how geographically distant a franchisee might be from the franchisor, the franchisor must institute channels where seamless ongoing dialogue takes place.

The franchisor must initiate communication if it is to flow naturally between the two. For instance, the franchisor might want to set up weekly calls at the start of the relationship. Subsequent emails, newsletters, conferences and content avenues will bond franchisors and franchisees together, leaving franchisees feeling “in the know” every step of the way.

Of course, conversations are not one-way streets; franchisees must be comfortable sharing their ideas and concerns with franchisors, who must then act on the information they receive. Franchisees provide valuable on-the-ground viewpoints that franchises need to successfully grow and scale.

Lead with focus.

If franchisors can demonstrate exceptional leadership principles, franchisees will be more engaged in their roles. Talented leaders hold people accountable, but they also help people spread their wings. Thus, franchisors must walk a fine line between providing guidance and accepting honest feedback.

This requires tremendous focus as well as a willingness to be innovative and responsive. That focus may be shared with franchisees through consistency and strength at the top. Both franchisors and franchisees should have clear, attainable goals to work toward, and each one’s progress toward those goals should be transparent.

Ideally, franchisees and franchisors can work together to boost their brand. The closer their relationship, the better chance they have of building wealth, community and customer loyalty.